RICHMOND, Va. (WUSA9/AP) - With Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe about even and neither very popular in a new statewide poll, Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis is gleaning enough support to affect the Virginia governor's race.

Quinnipiac University's poll shows McAuliffe favored by 44 percent of 1,005 likely voters, Cuccinelli with 41 percent and little-known Libertarian Sarvis with 7 percent. The results for the major party candidates are within the margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The last third-party or independent Virginia gubernatorial candidate, former state Sen. Russ Potts, got just 2 percent of the vote in 2005.

Thirty-eight percent viewed McAuliffe favorably and the same share viewed him unfavorably. Fifty-one percent held an unfavorable opinion of Cuccinelli to 34 percent who saw him favorably.

You can see the press release, including the questions asked, at the PDF link.

After the poll results were released, the Cuccinelli campaign released the following quote to the press:

"This race is within the margin of error, which we always knew was the case. As voters learn more about Ken Cuccinelli's record of fighting for Virginia and Terry McAuliffe's record of putting himself first at the expense of workers, they are going side with the attorney general. With each passing day, the energy and enthusiasm on the ground in support of Cuccinelli grows and with less than 50 days, our campaign is working to deliver victory on November 5th."